Alliance of the Light: The Order of Merlin
by justanotheraspiringauthor
Summary: Post Hogwarts. Voldemort's power is rising. The O.O.M. was formed to help put an end to the Dark Lord's evil ways. Meet up with all your fav. characters, who are kicking butt as Aurors, Hit Wizards, and Double Agents.


Chapter 1  
The List

        Percy Weasley, in his prime youth of twenty-three, sat at a desk in a crammed office building which was known to most as the headquarters of the Ministry of Magic's Law Enforcement Squad.  He was sorting through various files and softly humming a made up tune to himself, occasionally pausing to wipe the sweat collecting on his forehead and neck – a bothersome, constant indication of the scorching summer heat.  He was never one to complain, but the stuffy, unventilated, and rundown Muggle office building in London wasn't exactly a perfect working environment.  He had no say in the matter, and that was made perfectly clear when he casually mentioned it to his boss.  No, under the constant threat of Death Eaters bypassing the numerous and up-to-date protection charms that shielded the coveted Ministry branch from harm, they had no choice but to separate the various departments and relocate them to secret areas.

        "Why did I have to take that promotion?" Percy muttered to himself.  Due to his outstanding work ethic, he had been promoted from his job as Barty Crouch's personal assistant in the Department of International Magic, to assistant supervisor of the Order of Merlin.  The Order of Merlin was a newly formed sub-department in the Law Enforcement Squad, and it was set up for the sole purpose of organizing the plans of going to war with Voldemort and his Death Eaters.  Since the shocking rise in murders in the past few months caused by the Dark Lord's loyal followers after two years of peace, rumors of war were spreading like wildfires all across the world.  While everyone was continuing their lives normally and the war only creeping up in periods of idle conversation, the dedicated staff was preparing for what they knew was dreadfully going to come to pass.  For Percy, formulating strategic attacks plans, organizing hit wizards to go after a dark wizard, and recruiting Aurors were nothing but the events that went on in a normal day's work.  He may be the next victim to an attack, but hey, at least the pay was good.  After all, his wife Penelope Clearwater was due to give birth to his son soon, and there was no way he was going to make young Percy be teased about his tattered robes and patched up cauldron.  Not that he was as snooty as most purebloods about money, but it didn't hurt to live comfortably.

        While Percy was sorting through and analyzing records of known Death Eaters who were at large, he heard the door behind him creek open.  Swiveling his office chair around, he noticed that it was the double agent, Draco Lucius Malfoy.  Percy frowned at Draco's upturned nose.

        "You're late."

        "So?"

        Percy crossed his arms and cocked his head sideways.  

"Well, do you have a good reason why?" he asked in a slightly disgruntled tone of voice.

Draco sneered and replied, "I'm late because I was busy."

"Are you so high and mighty that you don't have to show up on time like the rest of us?" he said sarcastically.

"Why, yes.  I know you'll report this to Dumbledore, but frankly, I'm not worried one bit about the possibility of losing my job.  The Ministry _needs_ me."

Percy knew it was true, but he wasn't about to have his ego be reduced to the size of a sickle.  

"What makes you so sure we absolutely cannot survive without your services?"

"Picture this," Draco said while putting his hand on his chin and looking up to the ceiling, which was stained with huge spots where water had leaked.  "Two hundred or so loyal followers of Voldemort, the amount of people ready to sacrifice their lives to the Dark Lord's cause rising drastically every day, and you have, four total insiders.  Losing one to a mere tardiness would be just _devastating_.  Don't you think?"

Percy bit his lip.  Draco was right about that - it would be a devastating loss.  Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkison, Severus Snape, and Blaise Zabini were the only "Death Eaters" the Ministry had available at the moment.  How he hated having to deal with the self centered, prideful Slytherin prats.  You can't live with them and you can't live without them.

"Damn you," Percy said exasperatedly, while Draco grinned back at him rather arrogantly.  Percy couldn't stand his attitude much longer than a few minutes unless it was absolutely necessary.  

"Here, this letter is for you," Percy said as he pulled out a piece of parchment from a drawer in his desk.  "It's your next assignment."

"Why, thank you."

"Now, get out of my office."

"Certainly, _boss_."  With a disapparation spell, Draco had disappeared immediately, much to Percy's relief.

***

        Draco Malfoy was now outside the door of his old school, which he graduated from a year earlier, Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Reciting a complicated spell that had been placed as an extra security measure during the summers, the doors automatically welcomed him inside.  As he strolled through the empty halls, memories of his seven years spent there flooded his mind.  The most predominant memory, however, had been the life-altering one- the choice to not follow in his father's footsteps, and instead, to fight against the thing that had killed his father nearly two years ago.  Draco didn't want to die like his father.  If Draco did die, it was going to be nobly, and for the cause that mattered to him most – defeating the Dark Lord.

        Frankly, Voldemort disgusted him.  Here was this barely alive, mutated human, who brainwashed men and women to die for him by killing off Muggles and Muggleborns.

        "The hypocrite is half Muggle himself!" he silently fumed as he pondered the ways of the Dark.  "If wizards were to mind his orders, does that mean we should cut off half of his body and keep the pureblooded half?"  When he was a child, he went along with all the other Slytherins and hated the whole lot of Muggles and everyone who ever hinted at liking any of them.  But now, since he was older and a little wiser, the whole thing seemed rather foolish to him.

        Deep in thought, he nearly passed up the place he was supposed to be going to – Dumbledore's office.  It wasn't the one that students went to when they got in trouble, but rather, Dumbledore's highly protected and secret office, located deep in the dungeons of the castle.  Before he even got the chance to open the door with another complicated spell, the headmaster appeared behind him and gently touched Draco's shoulder.

        Draco whirled around and aimed his wand instinctively at the old man.  The moment he realized who it was, the seventeen year old sighed in relief and let his guard down.

        "Sir, I'm sorry.  I guess that's what working as a spy does to you – makes you paranoid of everything, I mean."

        Dumbledore smiled.  "No need to apologize, Mr. Malfoy, I know how cautious a person is in your position.  I'm glad to see how well you are doing.  Most people so young and carefree would never do something so honorable as you have done."

        Draco, who was normally arrogant around everyone else, was surprising modest around Dumbledore.  He didn't know why exactly – maybe it was the fact that Dumbledore was the highest in authority, or perhaps because Draco admired how the Dark Lord feared only him.  In fact, the eldest man in Britain was the one Draco admired most.  Draco longed to be feared, respected, trusted, and most of all, powerful.

        "Thank you, sir, but I don't consider it honorable.  To me, it's more like a necessary duty to this land and it's people that I love."

        Dumbledore merely smiled, with his eyes shining at Draco through his thick spectacles, and lead Draco into his office.  Draco noticed his mentor and trainer, the person who inspired him to be an agent, Severus Snape, was sitting in a chair by the fireplace to keep warm.  Although it was summer and record high temperatures were being reported throughout Britain, the dungeons located so deeply underground, were ice cold.  Severus, noticing the two come in, stood up to greet them properly.

        "Hello, Professor Dumbledore, Mr. Malfoy."  They both greeted him back, and sat down.  No polite conversation was uttered.  Instead, they were all there to do one thing and one thing only – get down to the business of recruiting young, brave, and smart people into the Ministry's elite Order of Merlin.

        After a few hours of debating on whom to recruit, they finally came up with a list.  Dumbledore, squinting at the paper because of the darkness of the dungeon, read off the final list of names of the lucky wizards and witches who would be getting a personally delivered owl from someone of their age within the next few days.

        "Harry Potter."

        "Of course," Draco muttered.  The infamous Boy-Who-Lived was a given.  If he refused the offer to fight off the person who killed his parents, Draco would hunt him down and use an Unforgivable Curse on him, that's for sure. That scar that warned him of danger would be mighty helpful.

        "Hermione Granger."  Again, a name was another obvious given.  She could probably memorize every new spell they gave her and create ones of her own with that huge brain, which was concealed by her frizzy mane.  Actually having the guts to fight though, that was a different story.

        "We'll see if she's all talk and no walk," Draco thought to himself.

        "Ronald Weasley."  Draco didn't see any use for him, except for maybe the fact that the Terrific Trio was basically joined at the hip in everything they did.  He had gotten into a fight with Weasel during their six year, so Draco was comforted by the fact that at least the kid could hold his own.

"Virginia Weasley."  Draco rolled his eyes.  Severus and Draco frowned upon this one, but Dumbledore had insisted.  Something about her little affair with the memory of Tom Riddle, and how she could fool Voldemort into believing she had fallen in love with him.  Draco wasn't sure if the sappy and painfully shy git was strong enough to handle it.  Maybe her sickening crush on Harry would motivate her to work with alongside him.

"Neville Longbottom."  No comment!  Dumbledore was obviously a loon to even remotely consider such a sorry excuse of a Gryffindor.  Weren't they supposed to be brave at the very least?  The Sorting Hat was such a joke, especially for putting those oafs Crabbe and Goyle into his Slytherin house.  The only thing Draco knew was that Neville could help greatly with the making of poisons from deadly plants.  Apparently, the wussy art of gardening was the one thing the fatso excelled in. 

"He's going to be the first one to bite the dust," he told himself.  "Probably even on the first day."

"Cho Chang."  Youngest girl seeker in Hogwarts' history and stiff competition for the Quidditch buff Harry, a Ravenclaw and one of the smartest of them, and supposedly longing to seek revenge on Voldemort for killing the love of her life, Cedric Diggory, she was perfect for the job of an Auror.  He wondered if they would be able to convince her to leave her dream career of a professional Quidditch player.

"That is the end of the list, for now at least.  I am quite pleased with it, and I think they will all do splendidly if they choose to accept the offer of joining the Order.  If only the others were able to come and agree with the decision, but they are, as you know, are busy with other assignments."  On that note, Dumbledore dismissed the men.

***

        Pansy Marie was sleeping soundly at the Parkison manor.  The light from her window was shining into her upstairs room rather brightly, but instead of getting up and shutting the curtain like she did every day when she didn't want to be bothered, she mumbled and buried her head under her pillow.  

She had just completed one of her missions last night, which was a safe, but rather complicated one, and that type was her least favorite.  It was a routine curse-breaking mission in Voldemort's secret lair, and her long time friend, Blaise Zabini, had accompanied her. Secretly, the only reason she had joined the Order was because of him.  She figured if he was going to never be around home, mingling at parties and gossiping like most rich purebloods, the only way to spend time with him would be to work along side him.  But now, after belonging to the Order for almost a year, she had learned to love her job and just not her colleague.  The hard-faced Slytherin chick found out she really had a flare for the Dark Arts, lying, and kicking people's asses, and those were the main qualities found in most double agents who work for the old, but wise man, Albus Dumbledore.

She figured out that trying to catch some Z's was a lost cause, because she moment she started drifting back into dreamland, a monotonous tapping of her window brought her back to consciousness.  She yawned and put her pink robe on before picking up the letter the snowy owl, that she recognized was from Dumbledore, had delivered to her.

"Stupid owl! There's no need to peck on my window anymore! I can see you!"  Pansy was not a morning person, and she yelled grumpily at the creature for not ceasing to make that irritable noise.  She opened her window, chilled by the cool, morning breeze blowing in, and yanked the tied up scrap of parchment from out of the owl's beak.  She slammed the window shut and the owl hovered over the window for a minute, expecting to be fed properly before its journey home.  She glared and put her arms on her wide hips.

"Oh, so you want some food don't you?  Well, to bad!  Next time don't come so early and interrupt my beauty sleep!" she scowled as she shut the curtain and sat back on the bed to read the letter.

"Hmm, I wonder what this is," she pondered as she performed a series of spells to open the locked note.  All Order of Merlin owled letters were highly guarded with locking and self-destruction spells to prevent the secrets of the division from perhaps falling into the wrong hands.

_Dear Miss Parkison,_

_Please come to my office A.S.A.P. to receive your next assignment.  Your colleagues and yourself will be recruiting new members into the Order today._

_Albus Dumbledore_

The moment Pansy finished reading the fancy calligraphy that made up Albus' handwriting, the paper ripped itself into a million pieces which scattered all over her bed.  She didn't fret about cleaning up the mess, however, because within the next few seconds the confetti had disappeared into thin air. 

After quickly showering, she clothed herself with regular Muggle attire, just in case a mission ever required her to venture out into the public.  Today she decided to wear a sky blue tank top that was a reflection of her eyes, and black leather pants with black boots.  Gazing into the golden mirror, she pulled up her long, dark brown hair into a smooth and secure ponytail.  It was quiet, and she realized it had been a good decision to purchase a regular Muggle mirror at a downtown antique shop. Her regular mirror was always scowling at Pansy's mean looking face, and it had gotten very annoying.  That mirror was such a bitch.

To top off her outfit, she put on her long, black cloak.  Not only was it proper attire for Death Eater ceremonies, it was also a Ministry requirement.  For these midnight sky cloaks were not just for looks, but also for the protection against enemy spells.  On the weaker spells, the cloak shielded the wearer completely from harm.  On the stronger spells, the cloak weakened the spell to where the person, although injured, could safely apparate and receive treatment for their ailments.  The only spells that could not be stopped were the Unforgivable Curses.  They were entirely too strong, and protection from them caused all wands close by to go haywire. 

She was finally ready, and hoped the others weren't waiting for her like they normally had to.  She was the only girl so far in the Order, so of course, she was the only one required to look beautiful.  

"Men don't have to worry about their looks like women do," she muttered while checking her hair one last time before disapparating.

***

Blaise Zabini stood in Dumbledore's office, leaning his tall figure against the wall.  As usual, he was the first one to arrive.  He had gotten up before dawn, so he was all ready to go as soon as Dumbledore's owl arrived at his home.  He was eager and ready to get down to business.  Blaise always figured that people waste too much of their time sleeping and not enough time living.  

That was the main reason he took his job – to live.  He got an unbelievable high from never knowing where he was going to end up next, who he was going to fight, and whether or not the day would be his last.

His hazel eyes gazed over to Dumbledore – the brains behind everything that went on in the Ministry, as well as the founder of the Order of Merlin.  They didn't utter a word to one another.  Dumbledore seemed to be in deep concentration working at something his desk, and at a group meeting he was never one to begin speaking until everyone was present.

Blaise repeatedly checked his watch in boredom.  Five minutes and ten seconds later, Draco arrived.  They gave each other a nod as a way of saying hello.  Draco walked over to his friend and accompanied him on the slightly dusty, stone wall.  Blaise was a little over a head taller than Draco, but with his confident and take charge personality, Draco's aura made him seem taller and stronger than anyone around him.

Finally breaking the silence, Draco sneered, "Who are we waiting for? Oh yeah, Pansy, as usual."  Blaise chuckled as the sarcastic remark about Draco's ex-girlfriend.  Pansy and Draco had dated during their fifth year, but broke up because of the constant bickering.  Blaise assumed they were both too independent and stubborn to ever compromise with one another about, well, _anything_.

Not surprisingly, Pansy arrived almost a half an hour after everyone else.  Blaise and Draco both gave her dirty looks, and she defended herself to them.

"It's not my fault! That stupid owl must have arrived late when delivering my message," she said with an upturned nose.

"Yeah, right."  Blaise rolled his eyes at her lame excuse, while Draco merely shook his head in disgust.

Dumbledore's demeanor seemed to light up when he noticed everyone had arrived.

He smiled, saying, "My loyal youths, please, sit down."  Once Blaise, Draco, and Pansy were seated, he continued.

"Your assignment today, as you may know, is to recruit the people that I, Professor Snape, and Draco, chose at our meeting yesterday.  I am going to give each of you a paper with the names and addresses of the people you are to see either today or tomorrow.  I have already owled them, so they will not be taken by surprise when you arrive at their homes.  I know I could have easily done this task myself, but I thought it would be easier for them to relate to people of their ages.  Answer any questions they may have, and remember to be polite and respectful.  If they choose to accept their spot into the Order, owl me immediately and I will make arrangements to meet with them personally, so that they will fully understand what they are getting into."

***

A/N: I don't know why some of the paragraphs are tabbed and some of them are not! I really did tab all of them! I fixed Blaise's name too! I really have more words than FF.net is letting on! Around 3,300 I think! Please review!


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